Both games were a variant on the traditional block-clearing puzzler that dates all the way back to Tetris. Upon its original release on the PSP, Lumines was a slow moving game where a single play could take hours. That’s not to say it was bad, it was more of a game that you could ‘chill out’ to. Meteos on the other hand was an extremely fast paced game that required quick reflexes and the ability to think on the run. And while Meteos Wars swaps the touch screen and stylus for the Xbox 360 controller, the transition is solid.
Unlike most puzzlers, Meteos Wars has a back story, believe it or not. An evil, sentient planet named Meteo has sent out ‘meteos’ to planets in the galaxy. These meteos stack up and the planet is eventually crushed under the weight of them. However, it was found that aligning three meteos together will cause them to ignite and fire back to where they came from. As such, this drives the gameplay. Following on from this, there are actually a number of different endings in the mission mode that you can play through, each obtained in a different manner.
Play against others, just not online.
You can play against either a CPU or human opponent, and as blocks or meteos come tumbling down, you attempt to send them back by aligning three or more together either horizontally or vertically. However, you can only move blocks up or down, but not sideways. It’s all good and well to be able to launch meteos, but you need to take into account that if there are a lot of blocks on top, it will be heavier and less likely to launch off your side. So you really need to chain and combo your ignitions to make sure the ignition is strong enough to get off your side instead of just dropping down. Each planet has a 'planet impact' as well, where you can hinder your opponents progress once you’ve pulled off enough combos.
The reason we say the transition is somewhat unnatural is that on the DS, the movement of the blocks was done with the stylus. This was necessary due to the speed of the game. That’s not to say it doesn’t work with a standard controller, but it simply isn’t conducive to quick movements and reflexes. Still, in a multiplayer match, both players will be subject to this, while most issues in the single player will come down to a lack of skill and guile rather than a genuine problem with the controls.
Meteos Wars comes with a fair few modes and different planets to play as. You can play Vs CPU, Mission mode or Attack mode. The first is a one-off match, the second can be played on three difficulties and it’s quite a challenge even on easy. Attack mode has you gathering high scores, taking on the clock or seeing how long you can last. Unfortunately, there are only 22 planets to unlock, as opposed to the 32 available on the original DS version. While there aren’t a huge amount of options, they are all good for quick bursts and it’s a great game to play if you’ve only got a little bit of time on hand. The multiplayer mode is a disappointment though, mainly due to suffering from terrible lag.
Or you can take on the clock.
Meteos Wars is a very sharp looking game for one that you download on the arcade. The presentation looks quite good on the widescreen and the effects have been spruced up. Overall, it’s very clean and colourful. The most surprising aspect though is the audio department. This will have benefited the most from the transition and the eclectic techno tunes suit the game extremely well and are a lot of fun to listen to on their own, not just to play to.
So while it may not be ideal for Meteos Wars to have come from the DS to the Xbox 360, it has actually come through very well. Despite the lag in the online component, the single player is great in both short and long plays and the game is great to watch and listen to in its own right. If you have the DS version, you’re probably better off sticking to that, but otherwise, Meteos Wars is one of the better additions to the puzzle collection on the Xbox Live Arcade.
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